The Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) announced on Friday that it would file a lawsuit against social media users who used racial epithets to disparage its players and president.
The action was taken in response to remarks made by fans on the CBF’s Instagram page, referring to black members of the Brazilian national team as “monkeys” and CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues, who is of Indigenous descent, as a “Indian.”
In a statement, the CBF declared that it “will take legal action against those involved in these crimes.”
“Whenever such attacks happen, we will take all required action without delay. One of our most vital issues is the battle against prejudice.”
The CBF added that it also reported the occurrences to authorities in Brazil, where racist hate speech is illegal and has a maximum five-year prison sentence, as well as to Instagram, FIFA, and the South American football body CONMEBOL.
The racist remarks were published in reaction to posts on CBF about two recent losses to Argentina, Brazil’s fiercest rivals: the senior men’s team’s 1-0 loss in a 2026 World Cup qualifier on Tuesday and the under-17 World Cup team’s 3-0 loss in the quarterfinals on Friday.
This event is the most recent in a string of racist occurrences involving Brazilian athletes. Other victims include Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid, who has been the object of multiple attacks in Spain, and his teammate Rodrygo, who claimed to have also been the recipient of racial taunts on social media following Tuesday’s defeat.
Kickoff was delayed by around thirty minutes due to a large stadium riot between rival fans, marring Brazil’s first-ever home defeat in World Cup qualifying.